The four main steps to integrate your NGP VAN account with your Scale to Win Dialer organization are:
Request your API Key
Link your Folder(s) in VAN to the Scale to Win Dialer
Save your API Key in the Scale to Win Dialer
Integrate Your Individual Call Campaigns (this enables you to import script questions, responses, and contact lists from NGP VAN, and to sync back survey responses, activist codes, and canvass statuses from the dialer to NGP VAN)
1. Request Your API Key
On the Main Menu page in your NGP VAN account, under the section titled “Administrative Menu,” click on “Integrations,” and then click on “API Integrations.”
Find the ‘API Integrations’ button in your NGP VAN account.
On the following page, click the blue “Request an API Key” button in the upper right corner.
Click the ‘Request an API Key’ button in NGP VAN.
In the popup window, select Scale to Win from the “Integration” dropdown menu. Then select your appropriate contact from the contacts listed in the “Request will be sent to” dropdown menu.
Select the Scale to Win integration in the popup window.
Request approval timelines may vary by administrator, so be sure to request your API key at least a few days before you’ll actually need to use the integration.
When the administrator of your NGP VAN account approves your request, you’ll receive a notification to generate your API key in NGP VAN.
Before you click the “generate” button found in your API key request approval notification, make sure you are ready to write down or copy and save the key that gets generated, because you will only be able to view it once.
The two pieces of information you’ll get when you generate the API key are:
Application Name - usually written in some variance of “DNCFL.004.scaletowin,” where the beginning may include “DNC” and your state’s abbreviation, but not always. This is also accessible after you generate the key.
API Key - written in a form of numbers, letters, and dashes. The dashes must be included.
2. Link your Folder(s) in VAN to the Scale to Win Dialer
On “My Folders” in your VAN account, create a new folder or edit an existing one and check the box “Allow other users to save into this folder.”
In the VAN folder settings, check the ‘Allow other users to save into this folder’ box.
After you click “Save,” you have the option to add users to save into the folder. Find the user titled “API User, Scale to Win” and add that user to the folder.
An example of what your folder will look like once you’ve added the Scale to Win API User.
This is where you’ll save your lists so that they are accessible in your dialer organization.
You can share multiple folders with the API User. Keep in mind that only “Saved Lists” (not saved searches) can be imported into the Scale to Win Dialer, and the maximum limit is around 75,000 phone numbers per list.
3. Save Your NGP VAN API Key in the Scale to Win Dialer
In the admin dashboard of your Dialer organization, click on “Settings” on the left side of your screen, and then click on the, “+ Add Integration” button.
An image depicting the “Settings” and “Add Integration” steps.
Next, give your integration a name. This name is something that will only be used by you and your organization’s other Dialer admins, so be sure to pick a name that’s easy to recognize. This is especially important if you are connecting multiple VAN committees.
Then, paste the “Application name” and “API key” you received from NGP VAN into the corresponding fields. Note: currently, the Scale to Win Dialer only supports an NGP VAN / EveryAction integration type. Accordingly, for now, “NGP VAN / EveryAction” is the only “Integration type” available in this dropdown menu.
Above, an example “New Integration” setup.
Once you’ve filled out the “New Integration” form, hit the “Save” button. You now have the option to sync call results in your dialer organization back to your NGP VAN committee.
4. Integrate Your Individual Call Campaigns
To sync call results in your dialer organization back through your linked NGP VAN integration, you must add your integration to your calling campaign(s).
Important: learn how to set up and use your integration with your individual call campaigns here!